East/West

Living on both the east coast and the west coast of North America offers a contrast between a long and rich historical, highly striated hierarchy of the east coast and the entrepreneurship and exploration of untamed, vast, smooth spaces of of the wild west. In Geophilosophical terms this is an example of the way milieus of the earth become social landscapes, and the effects of territorialization on social structures.

Manual Delanda writes about the opposing forces in America between the molarizing financial structures of global capitalism with it's consolidation of wealth and power of the elites against the rhizomatic molecular market forces of small business.

A vivid icon of the hierarchical structures of global capitalism is the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. After 9/11, the hole left from the terrorist networks is a stark icon of American vulnerability. The Redmond, WA Microsoft campus is an excellent icon of the flat rhizomatic landscape created by the entrepreneurship of the western spirit. Microsoft's Redmond campus is a city onto itself, with it's own restaurants, athletic facilities. Bill Gates started Microsoft along with Paul Allen in a garage. Other great companies of the North West that have benefited from the new great wild territory, the virtual wilderness of the internet. Google, Realplayer, Amazon, Apple are other companies based in the west coast that have claimed territory in the land grab of the early stages of the world wide web. The spatial vastness of the West is a constant intrusion on the consciousness. The great structures of the western United States are structures that tap into the resources of the environment: Hoovers Dam, the great grain fields irrigated by the Columbia River Project dominate the landscape.

There are many examples of the wild west, from western films, space exploration, the unknown of the internet. The influence the landscape on the people living in the western U.S. is much different in quality than that of the condensed populations in the eastern U.S. People's sense of space is organized by the milieu or landscape that is the immediate environment. The earth is the ultimate milieu, territories being carved out from the chaos. Population densities increase as do the material and energy requirements. Driving into NYC from the North is a gradual speeding up. The closer you get to the city, the urban landscape slowly becomes overwhelming, transport arteries begin to merge into the few entry points to the island.